Friday, October 20, 2006

Just insult the entire romance genre... brilliant strategy.

There happens to be a gentleman in the fine state of Texas who has decided to include some good 'ole mudslinging in his campaign to be an almighty comptroller. His opponent? A woman who wrote a romance novel nearly 20 years ago. Not only does he get into some good name calling, he proceeds to insult the entire romance genre and to me, all the readers of the romance story.

"Susan Combs claims to be a person of high moral standards. Her record of writing, having published and selling a pornographic book clearly shows that Susan Combs is a two faced, hypocrite who was obviously more concerned with her literary career and seeing her name in print than the morals of the young People of Texas who are exposed to her 222 page book, A Perfect Match, which has her name at the top of every other page - - - a clear testament to Susan Combs’ insatiable ego and desire to see her name in print. "

Well, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut after reading this. I don't live in Texas, but that doesn't stop me! It's not the best representation of my writing skills, but I was a little heated and just slapped it together.

My letter:

Dear Mr. Head, Recently one of my friends pointed me to your website. On your website you launch into a rant about Susan Combs. You attack her morals and the basis of this attack is that she wrote pornography. Quite frankly, I am disgusted and insulted, and not only by the inflammatory remarks that you make. First of all, I do not read pornography, but I do read romance novels. As an author, a reader, and most importantly, a woman - you have insulted me and insulted my fellow women. By claiming that Mrs. Combs wrote pornography, you are also claiming that every person who reads romance novels also reads pornography. You’ve insulted the entire romance genre! The dictionary defines pornography as obscene writing, writing with no artistic merit, and whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. Romance novels are not obscene, they do have artistic merit, and the primary goal is NOT sexual arousal. They are stories that enrich lives, bring hope and for many women, bring some peace and simple enjoyment in their otherwise busy lives. By belittling the author of one of these pieces you are belittling the readers who enjoy the romance, love and life that these stories can bring. You make a fallacy by claiming that she is immoral because she wrote a romance novel with sex scenes and is therefore a supporter of pornography. Well, if we make hip-shot judgments about everyone we can say that Stephen King must be a murderer or at the very least supporter of murderers because he writes about killers. Or that J.K. Rowlins is delusional and believes there are witches and magic schools... why? Well, because she wrote about them, of course. As a writer, I sometimes write about things I do not personally believe in or even support... I do it because it's part of the story. I have no idea about Mrs. Combs’ morals; the fact that she wrote a romance novel does not make me question her morals at all. Actually, it makes me admire her; it's difficult to get work published. If I lived in Texas, I would oppose your appointment simply based upon your comments and attack of Mrs. Combs.